When You Fall
by dream-spells
Summary: PreHBP. The day her best friend died, her dreams died with him. Her skating dream forgotten over two years, but can there still be chance for her and someone else to win the gold?
1. Remembering

**A Note: Yes, I have started another story, except I must warn you, this is much different than what most people have probably read. This WILL be about ice skating! yay! See what watching the Olympics can do to a person? Anyways, even though the skating parts aren't untill further along, I have decided to warn all of you. I DO NOT skate, and had never taken lessons of the sort. So if you read something that sounds off or something, I am only writing by what I see on T.V. or happen to read over the internet. So I know only very little, but I will try to make this story as accurate as it can possible be. So stay with me on this! I'll appriciate it!**

Disclaimer: I owe nothing of the characters that you might recognize in this story except for any OC's here and there.

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**Chapter One: Remembering**

'The applause thundered in the stadium. The cheers and the clapping from all those watching the two figures receiving their scores from the judges.

They had gotten perfect scores, earning them a grand title. The number one place in the competition.

They were just young kids by the adults' viewpoint. But these were two of the best. They were perfect skaters on the rink.

They had never lost once to anyone in any sort of competition. They had skated since the girl was eight had the boy thirteen.

They were the best of friends and they could probably even trust the other with their lives.

At this muggle competition (for they competed in both muggle and wizard competitions) they had received the acknowledgements from the judges to be able to go to the highest elite muggle tournament, the Olympics.

Now they stand in the center and the tallest podium with the second and third place winners at their sides receiving the silver (second place) and bronze (third place) medals.

They themselves received the gold medal which they wear proudly around their necks displaying the proud sight to everyone watching this European competition from the stands or at home.

Their laughter and smiles were stuck on their faces like glue (a muggle substance that makes things stick on to something else) as they waved their hands high and proudly.

Now, the girl was of fifteen years of age and the boy recently turned twenty. The boy is a wizard that had attended Durmstrang and now practices ice skating as a professional with his partner. His name is Atticus Thompson, a pureblood with dark brown hair and dazzling blue eyes. He is known as one of the smartest boys that ever went to Durmstrang and also a perfect match for his partner.

His partner is known as the smartest witch in her age that currently attends the Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry School and will start her fifth year in September. She has been skating on the ice since she was three years old and about two years later she landed the amazing feat of a quad lutz (not a triple lutz, a quad! You know, where you spin four times in the air then land on your feet. As of yet, no one has still been able to do this! ) on the ice! Her name is Hermione Granger, a muggle born that is one of the best known as ice skaters that still finds time to ice skate and do well in school! She has brown curly hair that has been straightened for the competition and put into a bun, and hazel brown eyes. Her slim figure is what most girls would envy to have for an ice skater.

When she was younger, she had met Atticus at the practice rink around the time she was seven. They had immediately hit off like best friends and they both of them decided that they wanted to do something far more challenging than single skating. They wanted to do pairings.

So they had indeed become best friends that have been inseparable during the school breaks and from their letters back and forth to each other year round.

Now, here we are with the two skaters just months away from the Olympics. Our reporter from the Daily Prophet asks them in an interview:

**Reporter:** "So what do the two of you think about all this popularity that you're getting all of a sudden since your big win?"

**H.G.:** "Well, it's not a big surprise, I mean; we've expected it, since we were planning on winning the competition."

**A.T.:**"Yeah, I'm proud that we won this, but all this popularity, its CRAZY!"

**Reporter:** "Miss Granger, I heard that even your best friends, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley don't know about your skating talents. What are you going to tell them now that you've become one of the most famous ice skaters?"

**H.G.**: "They know now!"

**Reporter:** "They sure do. Are they two of you going to train harder than ever now? How are you going to work around Miss Granger's schedule at school?"

**A.T.:** "We'll work around that somehow. Do you even know who you're talking to?"

**Reporter:** "Just one more question, do you think that the Olympics might be worth going since Miss Granger here is probably under the most danger and needs the most protection against You-Know-Who at the muggle games?"

**Both H.G. and A.T.**: "Of course."

Session ended.

The pictures that stand on the cover page were the pictures of happy teenagers smiling and waving at the audience around the world that were watching their every move.

That was two years ago. It was long since that the smiles have faded in their hearts and the dream forgotten.

Just a month after that win, the gold medals, a dreadful incident happened. It was not reported in the papers of the wizarding world but it was definitely reported in the muggles.

The practice had been great at the ring; the two had said their good byes. Atticus was walking home, but when he got there, no one knows or is quite sure of what happened next.

All that was found the next morning were three dead bodies just like the case about the Riddles in Little Hangington a year before. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary just that the bodies looked surprised. And the boy had been holding a stick in his hand.

The grand house they lived in sealed them off from the outside world. So it was no surprise when the first person that found them the day later was Hermione Granger.

Her scream had filled the air, her tears flowing down her face. House elves had tried to contact the Ministry but they didn't answer back. The police arrived due to the neighbors hearing the scream and they took the bodies away for autopsy.

But Hermione already knew who's work it was. The end of last year (her fourth year) had answered that. Sure, nothing hung over the house. And the Thompsons' had been afraid that something like this would happen from what Hermione had informed them about Voldemort coming back and everything. They just didn't know that it would happen so soon.

And it happened so fast, before the dreams of two could be fulfilled.

Now, Hermione Granger was seventeen years old. Two years after that day. She looked at the news article with the smiling faces with tears just daring to come out. But all she did was sniffled a bit and tucked the article back into the box with everything else that reminded her of her former self and her dreams.

All of that now forgotten, she stood up and remembered the vow she had made that day two years ago at the funeral of her best friend, the brother she never had.

The vow to avenge the death of Atticus, the smiling boy. Just because he refused to serve the Dark Lord and his many demands, doesn't give him the right to be dead. No, until the day she died, she vowed that she would never have to see someone die like that again.

Before the age of twenty one, when Atticus died, he took both his and Hermione's dream away and it was never coming back.

She had long since died out of that dream, now there was only the vow to live for. And not ever her other friends, Harry, Ron, and Ginny could persuade her otherwise.

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**Note: Ah. Another story. Please review this! Just to give me some tips or something about skating!**  



	2. Here We Are

**Chapter Two: Here We Are**

_'Augh! I can't believe it! I'm going to be late! Why didn't my parents wake me up earlier? Like I really need anymore of that beauty sleep I've been getting this whole summer!'_ Hermione Granger thought as she spelled all her clothes and other belongings into her trunk.

Hermione Jane Granger was seventeen years old and had definitely gotten her beauty sleep the past summer. Her body had filled out and even her hair and grown into brown wavy ringlets that rested on the back of her body. She had gotten used to wearing tank tops and short shorts, and had gotten a danger side to her now.

Over the summer she had gone a nightclub with her muggle friends four times and had ended up dead drunk all four times. She wasn't a slut or a whore because she was still a virgin. And she planned to keep it that way, just until the right guy came along. But right now, to her, that possibility looked like it would never happen.

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"Hermione, over here!" yelled a boy with red hair. The boy was a good 5 feet 10 and had built muscles over the summer from Quidditch.

"Hey Hermione! How has your summer been?" asked the boy beside the red head who had jet black hair and round glasses resting on his nose. But instead of a geeky look the boy had the hot Quidditch body and was anything but short.

"It was okay, I guess, I bit boring too. But never mind me, how have you guys been? Haven't seen you guys in so long!"

"Oh, Harry owled me two weeks into the summer complaining that if he stayed at the Dursley's any longer that he would just end up dying with two pigs and a stick in his house begging us to go get him and let him stay the rest of the summer with us. Naturally his aunt and uncle didn't complain so Harry's been staying with us the whole summer." Ron replied with a smile on his face as he retold the story but as he noticed how crestfallen Hermione looked he added, "Oh but it was really boring though, we didn't do much, did we Harry?"

"Nope. We sure didn't do much at all. Since it was mostly hearing Mr. Weasley talk about muggle inventions and about what trouble the ministry was causing. Nothing you missed at all 'Mione." Harry added trying to cheer Hermione back up.

"Oh yeah, there was something, actually. Nothing big, but Harry and Ginny got back together again." Ron stated.

"What! Really! Harry James Potter, why did you not tell me and had to rely on you best friend to tell me that you and Ginny were going out?" Hermione roared at them.

Her anger didn't make her look any uglier than she did when she got on the platform because her hair still swirled around her face just enough to make any guy go crazy for her. And these were the exact thoughts of the boy who was holding his trunk on the other end of the platform completely ignoring what his best friend was saying. He was just staring at her with his piercing blue eyes.

He took one last glance then pulled his things up into the train his friend now waving his hand in front of his face then looked in the direction were his blue eyed friend had been looking at moments before. Then, a smirk came on his face as he realized what his friend had been staring at.

Hermione, wearing a green shirt with only one sleeve and white shorts, climbed onto the train with her two friends as they looked for an empty compartment.

As they passed by a fifth year Ravenclaw she heard her say to her friend, "Can you believe that the muggle Summer Olympics are only about some months away? I know, it's for muggles but tons of wizards still go and watch it! I mean, it **is** the biggest game in history!"

"Yeah, I can't wait! My parents are going to be recording the entire game on TV! My favorite sport is still ice-skating even though it's a winter sport! I wonder what happened to that English pair about two years ago. They were the best I heard because they were wizards and were going to go to the Olympics last time. it's a shame they couldn't go, I was sure they were going to get the gold!"

"Me too! Hey what were their names anyways? Wasn't there something in the-?"

But what was in what, Hermione never heard. Because at that point she was choking back tears that she had tried to hide for the last two years. As Harry and Ron were shocked at the sound that came out of Hermione's throat they couldn't do anything about it because that nice second she had already disappeared from the compartment they were passing by, and they received bewildered looks from the compartment's occupants.

Tears were streaming down her face as she ran, not caring who saw her, not caring where she was going. She would have kept on running too if it hadn't been at that moment she ran into someone.

"Hey watch it, Mudblood! Now, that's another set of robes I've got to burn because of your nasty germs has touched it!" Cried out the boy she had ran into who hadn't seen clearly that Hermione hadn't meant to run into him until the black haired boy beside him pointed at her face and her tears that she was furiously trying to wipe away.

"Oh what's Potty and Weasel done now? Did they hurt your know-it-all feelings?"

"Oh shut up Malfoy! I don't want to talk to you right now! So just leave me alone!"

"Well it's not like I'm the one who ran into you!" he retorted with a sneer.

"Like I care what you're doing! Just go away!"

Hermione dared to look up now that she had wiped away the last of her tears and the boy she saw in front of her truly shocked her. Malfoy had gotten hotter over the summer with his Quidditch form taking over and his blond hair hanging freely over his eyes without all the gel he used to use. Not to mention the boy, Zambini, was not to bad looking either with his shaggy black hair and rather muscular body.

Zambini gave a large sigh as he held out his hand to the girl on the ground offering to help her up. His best friend was shocked that he would help a mudblood off the floor but didn't say anything as the girl took his hand and stood on her feet again. She muttered a quiet thank you and turned around to go but not before Malfoy asked her a question.

"Did you make Head Girl Granger?"

"Er, yeah, yes I did, Malfoy. Why do you ask?"

"I'll see you in the Heads' compartment in a couple of minutes then." Not bothering to reply to her question, as he turned around to leave, leaving a fuming girl behind him.

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Yay! Another chapter! Keep reviewing people! 


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